Hello everyone, I posted a few times last year when I was having my treatment and a few times subsequently and found this forum to be a great help and comfort in the dark and frankly scary times.
I guess I was lucky as my cancer was discovered accidentally when I had an apparently benign polyp removed from my anus. This was then discovered to be cancerous and to contain a small tumour. I was referred for radiotherapy and chemotherapy and had 23 days of both, less than the standard 28 days as my cancer was such an early stage and had also been removed, albeit with not enough of a margin for the oncologist to be happy to leave it at that.
i found the treatment bearable although i suffered terribly afterwards as i developed a fissure and bowel movements were somewhat intolerable. Gradually there was an improvement after some medication, thank goodness as I was getting very worried about the whole toilet thing. I know you can all relate.
Anyway, I am now 9 months post the end of my treatment and I am still suffering pain, bleeding occasionally and soreness. I have seen my oncologist twice since my treatment ended and he seemed unconcerned. I had an anoscopy back in January and they took two biopsies, both fine. I have not had a second scan yet as apparently this is the protocol for such an early cancer. I stopped taking Movicol on the advice of the colorectal surgeon as he said it is not designed for long term use. He recommended psyllium, which I take every evening. I am not sure that stopping the movicol has helped the healing process and am contemplating starting it again at a very low dose. How can the anal canal heal if it is constantly being aggravated and, if it remains inflamed will the cancer be more likely to return?
I guess I am worrying too much but as you can all relate I am sure, it is so hard not to. I appreciate that there are others in far more challenging situations than mine but I just wanted to offload to an understanding, wonderful group.
Jo x
